While culture could affect individual and historical views on the definition of child abuse, culture should be seen as irrelevant to determining child abuse because those who are in the position to determine child abuse should be already examining three key aspects that would make cultural knowledge irrelevant: view the individual without bias from privileged structural factors (e.g., racism, patriarchy, etc), intentions of those doing the actions, and considering the mental and physical wellbeing of the child. Privileged structural factors include, but are not limited to: class, racism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and cisgendered experiences. These are problematic and necessary to consider because the person defining the behavior is also
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The history of the United States has led to its modern structural factors. Specifically, oppression has happened to non-whites, especially blacks, by the privileged whites. The effect of previous and modern oppression is seen when determining child abuse. There is racial and economic injustice from mandated reporters in reporting child abuse (Fontes 2005). Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are far more likely to be poor and the inability to provide thus increases the chance they will be reported for child abuse (Fontes 2005). It is argued that the issue is not solely economic because Latino children are not removed from their homes at similar rates to Black children (Fontes 2005). This is frustrating because the foundation minorities have is less than whites historically. Acting upon the belief that child abuse is directly caused by economic hardship is ruthless and comes from a place of privilege. Therefore, economic hardship can be a result from the system that has been in play; a system created by the privileged. This is relevant to removing culture when determining child abuse because there are multiple factors that are contributing to the oppression. To point the finger at culture completely undermines and removes what factors are actually at …show more content…
It removes intra-group differences and promotes flawed stereotypes (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). Culture is not just limited to race and assuming so is racism. Two Mexican-American women living in Chicago might have different cultures than each other depending on what generation she is (in relation to living in America) or where she lives within Chicago, among other factors. To add even more complication, parents from other countries, who just moved to a new country, are facing challenges such as acculturation, ethnic identity, and racial identity (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). This means that while a parent can find parenting stressful, adding these complications to a parent, has potential to create more stress and make parenting even more difficult. The new culture also limits how someone would be able to access outside help and resources (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). It would be important to take this extra weight a parent would have to carry and make sure the parent knew what was happening in the process. This is not a burden that would be carried by a knowledge of a different culture, but rather a burden that is carried by someone who has a job to be emphatic and understanding towards the client that is coming to
The history of the United States has led to its modern structural factors. Specifically, oppression has happened to non-whites, especially blacks, by the privileged whites. The effect of previous and modern oppression is seen when determining child abuse. There is racial and economic injustice from mandated reporters in reporting child abuse (Fontes 2005). Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are far more likely to be poor and the inability to provide thus increases the chance they will be reported for child abuse (Fontes 2005). It is argued that the issue is not solely economic because Latino children are not removed from their homes at similar rates to Black children (Fontes 2005). This is frustrating because the foundation minorities have is less than whites historically. Acting upon the belief that child abuse is directly caused by economic hardship is ruthless and comes from a place of privilege. Therefore, economic hardship can be a result from the system that has been in play; a system created by the privileged. This is relevant to removing culture when determining child abuse because there are multiple factors that are contributing to the oppression. To point the finger at culture completely undermines and removes what factors are actually at …show more content…
It removes intra-group differences and promotes flawed stereotypes (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). Culture is not just limited to race and assuming so is racism. Two Mexican-American women living in Chicago might have different cultures than each other depending on what generation she is (in relation to living in America) or where she lives within Chicago, among other factors. To add even more complication, parents from other countries, who just moved to a new country, are facing challenges such as acculturation, ethnic identity, and racial identity (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). This means that while a parent can find parenting stressful, adding these complications to a parent, has potential to create more stress and make parenting even more difficult. The new culture also limits how someone would be able to access outside help and resources (Elliot & Urquiza 2006). It would be important to take this extra weight a parent would have to carry and make sure the parent knew what was happening in the process. This is not a burden that would be carried by a knowledge of a different culture, but rather a burden that is carried by someone who has a job to be emphatic and understanding towards the client that is coming to